December2020
News Switch Owners "Most Likely" To Own A Rival Console, 2020 Study Shows
Console also scores highly in 'bestselling' and 'worst game' categories
Our friends over at GamesIndustry.biz love crunching the numbers and turning them into lovely charts, and we love reading them. Their "Year In Numbers" for 2020 shows a pandemic-fuelled frenzy of video game spending, with a 21% increase in the value of the console market,...
Feature What Can We Expect From Pokémon’s 25th Anniversary?
2021 marks 25 years of catching 'em all
It’s Thanksgiving and time for the Macy’s Parade in New York. After float upon float showing various things, in comes a familiar yellow friend. Multiple Pikachu have come and started dancing to celebrate Thanksgiving. However, at the end, something is uncovered... the Pokémon 25th anniversary logo...
November2020
News Pokémon HOME - Pokémon GO Connectivity Is Now Live, It's Just Not Available To Everyone Yet
Update: Limited to trainers at Level 24 and above
Update [Fri 13th Nov, 2020 11:40 GMT]: According to Serebii, players at Level 24 and above can now transfer Pokémon from GO to HOME. Original Article [Wed 11th Nov, 2020 01:30 GMT]: Good news trainers (well, kind of), Pokémon HOME is finally able to be connected with Niantic's augmented-reality...
News It Takes "Just Under" Seven Days To Fully Charge Pokémon's GO Transporter
Or you can fork out some PokéCoins
We've known for a while time now that transfers between Pokémon GO and Pokémon HOME would have a cool-down period, so just how long do you have to wait if your GO Transporter runs out of energy? As highlighted by Nintendo Life contributor and Serebii.net webmaster, Joe Merrick, when you run out of energy,...
September2020
Talking Point Are Shiny Pokémon Too Common These Days?
One Corviknight in shining armor too many?
Shiny Pokémon are a staple of the Pokémon franchise, but as time has progressed, things have shifted and the ways to get them have become more plentiful. Here, we’re taking a look at Shiny Pokémon, their history, how things have changed and asking the question: are they too common now? What are Shiny...
News Pokémon GO To Lose Support For Android 5, Older iPhones And iOS Versions
October update will end support, says Niantic
The developer of Pokémon GO has announced that support for a handful of devices and platforms will be ending when a new update launches next month. Niantic confirmed in a blog post on the game's website that support will be ending for Android 5, iOS 10 and iOS 11, in addition to Apple's iPhone 5S and...
August2020
News Pokémon GO Players Call For Niantic To Disclose Loot Box Odds
It's been a problem for "years"
Pokémon GO trainers are calling for Niantic to disclose "loot box odds" in the insanely popular augmented reality game after fan site The Silph Road discovered the chance of hatching a Deino (see above) in the first three days of the latest event - Dragon Week - was likely to be less than one percent. "Deino’s...
July2020
Random Niantic Got Rian Johnson To Direct A Pokémon GO Commercial
"It was a real pleasure"
Niantic's augmented reality mobile game Pokémon GO has just turned four years old. To celebrate in style, it's teamed up with the Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out director, Rian Johnson, to produce a special commercial for Pokémon GO Fest 2020 (taking place on 25th - 26th July). Johnson describes himself as a...
June2020
News Pokémon GO Is Ending Support For Older Android Devices
Update: Niantic has now postponed this
Update (Thu 18th Jun, 2020 01:30 BST): It looks like Niantic has had second thoughts about dropping support for older Android devices in its next update. This will now be postponed until it's collected more data. Here's the important post it made on its support page: Important update (June 15, 2020): To...
Guide Pokémon GO EX Raids and Regigigas - What They Are And How To Get An EX Raid Pass
Everything you need to know about Pokémon GO’s invitation-only secret society of hardcore raiders
With hundreds of Pokémon now available in-game and an ever-evolving list of new features and challenges, you may be wondering just how deep the Pokémon GO rabbit hole goes. EX Raids are arguably the ultimate experience for the game’s hardcore...
Guide Pokémon GO IVs - How To Check A Pokémon's IVs Using An IV Calculator
IV no idea
Each Pokémon in Pokémon GO has three IVs, or Individual Values, which determine that particular Pokémon's HP, defence, and attack scores. These are determined at random, and there's no way at present to change a Pokémon's IVs directly. IVs in Pokémon GO are almost as mysterious as Legendary Pokémon. You know they're there because...
News Pokémon GO Update Is Live, Along With Cool New "Reality Blending" Feature
Limited to Android phones for now
Pokémon GO has been updated to Ver. 0.177.0 (Android) and Ver. 1.143.0 (iOS), and you can download it now. The latest update for Niantic's augmented reality game comes with a range of tweaks, changes and improvements, including: Addition of a visual indicator (white rings around the Charge Moves) allowing...
Guide Pokémon GO Buddy Distance Chart - How To Earn Candy
How far you have to walk every Pokémon to earn candy
Pokémon GO's "Buddy" system allows you to assign a Pokémon to walk at your side and earn candies as a reward – this is really handy, as candies are required to evolve 'mon. The Buddy mechanic makes it possible to gain candies for any monster – even those rare ones that you've hatched from...
May2020
News Niantic Talks About Playing And Developing Pokémon GO From Home
"It's been challenging"
It's been a difficult period for every video game company in recent months to get teams up and running from home. For Niantic, though, it's been even more of a challenge. Not only has it had to make a transition to working from home, but it's also had to rework and update its insanely popular mobile game Pokémon GO so its...
March2020
News Pokémon GO Player Spending Soars As More Trainers Bunker Down
Gotta stay inside
Niantic's outdoor mobile game Pokémon GO is reportedly making even more money than it previously was now that people around the globe are locked down indoors. According to Sensor Tower data (via VentureBeat), global player spending in the game reached $23 million last week on 16th March, which was an increase of 66.7% from the...
News Niantic Updates Pokémon GO To Protect Players From The Coronavirus
Will continue until "further notice"
The COVID-19 pandemic – commonly known as the coronavirus outbreak – has already had a huge impact on the games industry. Certain games have been delayed, Switch stock is in short supply in some locations around the world, and most recently it's resulted in the
News Niantic Brings Paid Special Research Story To March's Pokémon GO Community Day
Niantic used Pay Day!
To say Pokémon GO has been a financial success for all parties involved would be something of an understatement. Since launching back in 2016 it's done pretty well for itself, with 2019 being the game's most successful year yet. In-game player spending pulled in nearly $900 million for makers Niantic last year, stimulated...
Random Croatia's Second-Biggest City Misses Pokémon GO Raid Day Due To Incorrect Map Data
"Apparently Niantic thinks that Split belongs to Italy like it did during WW2"
Residents of the Croatian city of Split have missed out on Pokémon GO raid day because Niantic was relying on incorrect map data. The hiccup was spotted by Reddit user jaleCro (thanks, VG247): Apparently Niantic thinks that Split belongs to
February2020
News Etika's Mural Becomes A PokéStop In Pokémon GO
"JoyconBoyz forever"
Not long after the video game YouTuber Desmond "Etika" Amofah was found deceased last year, his fans banded together and painted a large mural of him in Brooklyn. Now, to add to this, the same location has been transformed into a PokéStop within Niantic's augmented reality mobile-hit, Pokémon GO. This is all thanks to the...
February 2020 Pokémon GO events bring a plethora of pink Pokémon
February 2020 is shaping up to be one of Pokémon GO's busiest months ever with developer Niantic announcing a whole bunch of events across the month. Below we've rounded them all up in roughly chronological order (there's a lot of overlap!) so you don't miss out on catching 'em all...
January2020
News Pokémon GO's Long-Awaited PvP Mode Launches This Week, And Pikachu Libre Is Up For Grabs
Preseason trial will help optimise the experience
Ever since Pokémon GO launched, players have been asking when the opportunity to face-off against other human opponents would arrive. Now, years after its release, we're finally getting PvP functions in the game via a preseason trial of the GO Battle League, which kicks off this week. Niantic is...
Feature Game Of The Decade Staff Picks - Pokémon GO
Ryan's personal pick for GOTD
Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, Ryan looks back at how a smartphone title took the world by storm and proved him completely wrong - in a good way... Hold it, let me...
News Pokémon GO Just Had Its Most Successful Year Ever, Trainers Spent Nearly $900 Million
Money maker
Niantic's augmented reality game Pokémon GO has just recorded its best year ever in terms of in-game player spending. According to Sensor Tower's Store Intelligence estimates, the mobile app generated around $894 million in gross player spending in 2019. Before this, the best period for GO was the year of its launch in 2016, when it...
Random Internal Files Reveal Pokémon GO Was A Major Hassle For The Canadian Military
"taking off like gangbusters"
You've no doubt heard stories in the past about Pokémon GO players trespassing to catch 'em all, but there's never been much documented about it other than news reports and player accounts. Recently, though, Canada's national broadcaster CBC gained access to 471 pages of internal files on the subject from the...
Quest Details for all Six Stages - New Special Research Drops as Team GO Rocket Invasion Intensifies
There’s never a dull moment in Pokémon GO. Squeezing itself in before Pokémon chatter turns to Sword and Shield’s release next week, and hot on the heels of the Halloween and ‘Colossal Discovery’ events, Niantic have put live another new...